HIV futures seven: the health and wellbeing of HIV positive people in Australia

Abstract

Executive summary DEMOGRAPHICS The HIV Futures 7 survey was completed by 1058 HIV positive Australians from all states and territories. This represents approximately 4.3% of the estimated HIV positive population. 92.2% were male (975), 6.7% were female (70) and 0.3% were transgender (3). §§ 83.1% were gay men, 6.1% heterosexual women, 4.3% heterosexual men, 3.8% bisexual men, 0.1% lesbian women and 0.5% bisexual women. The remaining 2.1% fell into other categories. The respondents’ ages ranged 19 to 84 years with a mean of 49.0 years and a median of 49 years. The majority of participants were Australian born (78.2%). Twenty two respondents (2.1%) were of Aboriginal/Torres Strait Island origin. Health HIV antibody testing 24.5% tested for HIV because they became ill 18.9% tested as part of routine health screening 8.7% tested because they were a member of a risk group 10.9% tested because of a particular risk episode 2.8% were tested without their knowledge Current Health Status 71.4% rated their health as good or excellent and 62.7% rated their general well-being as good or excellent Almost all PLHIV had taken a CD4/T-cell test and a viral load test. HIV-related and other health conditions 22.3% of respondents had been diagnosed with an AIDS defining illness, 3.3% in the previous two years 40.6% of respondents indicated that they had experienced HIV-related illnesses 46.0% indicated that they had a major heath condition other than HIV/AIDS. The most common conditions were asthma (8.3%), cancer (6.4%), cardiovascular disease (e.g. high blood pressure) (7.3%), type II diabetes (4.2%), hepatitis C (6.0%)